The Fleet – London’s Underground River ~ Kuriositas The Fleet – London’s Underground River 13 October 2014 If you listen carefully just above this unassuming grate you can hear the ripple and splash of flowing water. This is the sound of the River Fleet, London’s largest subterranean river. Forced underground by the city’s burgeoning populace the river still flows from its source to its mouth where it joins London’s main waterway, the Thames. Yet what lies beneath? Image Credit Flickr User sub-urban.com Below the ground there is a remarkable network of tunnels and chambers, put in to place by Victorian engineers, the final step in a process which took centuries. For over a thousand years there had been a shipping dock at the mouth of the river – its name comes from the Anglo-Saxon fleot which means a tidal inlet. Yet it was not destined to persevere as a river in its own right. Image Credit Flickr User sub-urban.com The Fleet remains tidal and these incredible pictures, taken by Flickr photographer sub-urban, show the river at its lowest level. Visitors must remain vigilant of the time as it fills to the roof in thirty minutes.

Even as the time draws towards low tide the water is way above the height of a man. A short time at the upper levels and it empties out although it would be easy for the unwary traveller to be trapped and drowned on its return. Image Credit Flickr User sub-urban.com Everything is in place, thanks to the ingenuity of the Victorian engineers, to ensure that the Fleet is confined to these tunnels. Yet it was not always like that. If we travel back a few centuries we find a different story altogether – one which is not without its own pathos if such an emotion can be felt for a river. Image Credit Flickr User xynt4x Then, the waters of the Fleet were renowned for being clear and sparkling. As the medieval city began to grow, mills, tanneries and meat markets sprang up along its banks. Water was vital to keep these industries functioning and growing and gradually the river was polluted with blood, sewage and other waste – it effectively became a waste tip, a handy repository to discard anything unwanted including the carcasses of dead livestock.

Image Credit Wikimedia As a result, over the years the river became shallower and the water much slower than in previous generations, only exacerbating the burgeoning problem of the health hazard it now presented. It would silt up in the summer and although the spas and wells upstream remained open and functioning the Fleet in the city of London became an open sewer with a mix of slums and prisons on its banks. Something had to be done. Image Credit Wikimedia The Great Fire of London in 1666 provided that opportunity. The architect Sir Christopher Wren was afforded the chance of transforming the lower Fleet. By 1680 this part of the river had been turned in to the New Canal. It was hailed as the Venice of England but its days were numbered from the very beginning. It was poorly used as a canal and, despite its new clothes, it still stank to high heaven. The satirical cartoon, right, shows the new canal and the undesirables it attracted. Within a generation it was no longer fit for purpose as a canal. The river was channelled underground in the 1730s from Holborn to Fleet Street, which still bears its name.

Decades later it was filled in and arched over from Fleet Street down to the river Thames and is covered by what is now New Bridge Street. Image Credit Wikimedia The mouth of the river on the Thames was still used by ships in 1750, as the painting above by Samuel Scott testifies, but that was all. Towards its source it fared no better as the Industrial Revolution spread and the population of London increased. Urban growth and the creation of what came to be known as suburbia meant that it was further submerged in the early years of the nineteenth century. Image Credit Flickr User IanVisits Yet the final blow was to come in the 1860s. It was at this point that the sunken river was incorporated in to the new network of sewers – an astonishing piece of industrial scale engineering designed by the visionary civil engineer Joseph Bazalgette. A little later its upper reaches in Hamstead and Kentish Town disappeared forever as well. 11 Rivers Forced Underground - National Geographic 11 Rivers Forced Underground This story is part of a special National Geographic News series on global water issues. Rivers are the lifeblood of many plant, animal, and human communities.

Yet many of the world's rivers have been dammed, degraded, polluted, and overdrawn at alarming rates. Some of the world's great rivers, from the Colorado to the Indus, don't always reach their ends because people have diverted so much water for agriculture, industry, and municipal uses. Other rivers have been completely covered over by development, as people attempted to "tame" nature by ending flooding and maximizing usable land area. But what happens to once-thriving freshwater ecosystems when the rivers they depend on are entombed in sewer pipes beneath layers of concrete and soil? Few species can make the transition to subterranean living. Ironically, it was often rivers and streams that attracted people in the first place, but those very sources of life can fall victim to the expanding concrete jungle. This was the case in the late 1800s for Sunswick Creek in the Queens section of New York City. Appearing on maps in the 1870s , Sunswick Creek was soon completely covered over. Now, it exists only as a meager flow through buried sewer-like pipes, as documented in this photo by Steve Duncan.

Duncan notes that the burial process appears to have occurred in multiple phases, based on his explorations of the dank channels. —Brian Clark Howard Photograph by Steve Duncan Tibbetts Brook starts just north of the Bronx and then flows into the borough's leafy Van Cortlandt Park , where it fills a small lake. Thanks to historic development, the brook is then forced underground at Tibbett Avenue. It then flows under the Bronx through a large, double-channeled brick sewer until it reaches the Harlem River Ship Canal, which was dug in the 1890s, shaping the border with Manhattan. Before development, the Lenape Native Americans who lived in the area took advantage of the brook's freshwater and plentiful fish and game, which included muskrats, raccoons, rabbits, skunks, and many species of birds. The Lenape called the stream Mosholu, meaning "smooth or small stones." In the 1690s, property owner Jacobus Van Cortlandt built the small dam that created the lake, in order to power a sawmill and gristmill. He also cut ice from the lake in winter to sell to locals.

The city of New York acquired the land that became Van Cortlandt Park in 1888. Today only a small part of Tibbetts Brook remains above ground. Runoff of toxins from the surrounding city remains a problem for water quality. In 1961, pollution seeped into the stream, leading to the death of thousands of fish in the lake. Photograph by Steve Duncan A tributary of the mighty Hudson River, the Sawmill River flows about 23 miles (37 kilometers) from Chappaqua, New York, to Yonkers, just north of New York City. Since the early 1900s, the last 2,000 feet (600 meters) of the river have been entombed in a flume underneath downtown Yonkers. The river was covered gradually. First, bridges were built across it. Over time, the bridges got bigger and closer together, as Yonkers experienced rapid industrialization. Eventually, the river was completely covered over, and it has historically suffered from pollution and intense development.

In 2007, a $34 million plan was approved to expose, or "daylight" much of the buried section of the Sawmill River, as part of a $3 billion redevelopment project for Yonkers. This will include a new city park. Scientists hope that exposing the river to daylight will help restore it to a better state of health. A BioBlitz was conducted in 2009 to assess the health of the watershed. Participants counted eight species of fish, though more than 20 were counted by scientists in the past. Native Americans called the Sawmill the "Great Fishing Trap." Photograph by Steve Duncan In the 1940s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers diverted the Park River beneath Hartford, Connecticut, in what was one of the largest and most expensive projects the Corps had tackled up to that point. The Park had connected the city's west side to the larger Connecticut River, though it had long been abused as a dumping ground for sewage and industrial waste. Long called Hog River because of its stench, the Park was buried 30 to 50 feet below the surface, where it still runs under the state capitol and main public library.

Today, a few intrepid urban explorers paddle canoes down the buried river. John Kulick of Huck Finn Adventures, who has guided float trips through the subterranean section, told the New York Times he has seen eels, carp, and stripers in the dark water. Kulick joked, perhaps at least half seriously, that a burst of water gurgled into the river because "someone flushed a toilet." Photograph by Steve Duncan The Neglinnaya River (also called the Neglinka River) used to flow across Moscow from north to south, until it was buried underground in 4.7 miles (7.5 kilometers) of tunnels. Today it drains into the Moskva River via two openings. The Kremlin was built on a hill west of the Neglinnaya River, with a moat filled from its channel. Over time residents grew weary of the river's flooding, so in 1792, the city diverted its course into a new canal, and filled in the original bed. After a devastating fire in 1812, the river became heavily polluted, so engineers covered it over with a vault. In subsequent decades, additional tunnels were built or expanded.

Photograph by Steve Duncan A number of watercourses through London were buried over the centuries, including the River Westbourne, which flowed from Hampstead through Hyde Park to Sloane Square and into the River Thames at Chelsea. The River Westbourne had been an important source of drinking water for the growing city, and conduits were built for that purpose in 1437 and 1439. However, by the 19th century, the water had become too filthy to use for anything except a sewer. In the early part of the 19th century, the River Westbourne was channeled into underground pipes to make more room for the growing areas of Chelsea, Paddington, and Belgravia. That work was completed in the 1850s, and the river has remained "lost" ever since. Part of the original iron pipe can still be seen running above the Sloane Square tube station, where it survived intense bombing by Germany in World War II. Photograph by Steve Duncan The largest of London's lost rivers, the River Fleet flows four miles (6.4 kilometers) underground through downtown before it enters into the Thames.

Here, it splits into two 12-foot-high (3.7-meter-high) brick tunnels not far from St. Paul's Cathedral. The Fleet was forced underground and combined with the sewer system in the 19th century. In Roman times, it had been a major and important river. By the 13th century, the Fleet had already become polluted, since it was long used as a sewer. Much of its water was also gradually diverted for industry. After the Great Fire of London in 1666, the river was reshaped into a canal. Over time this was increasingly covered over by development, until the process completed around 1870. Today the River Fleet can still be heard gurgling below a grating at Ray Street. The river's name lives on as the inspiration for Fleet Street. Photograph by Steve Duncan The Roman settlement of Londinium, the precursor to today's city, was bisected by a river called the Walbrook, perhaps named because it flowed under the fortified walls. The stream started in what is now Finsbury and flowed into the River Thames near today's Cannon Street Railway Bridge.

The river was long used as a sewer, as well as for drinking water, and its quality began to decline as early as the Roman period. By 1598, historian John Stow wrote that the Walbrook was being paved over with bricks to make way for housing. By the 1830s, what remained of the Walbrook's flow was coursing through city sewer lines, where it remains today. According to Steve Duncan, groundwater in the area works its way through the brick of the tunnel, spraying from every direction. Subterranean London...Mapped! | Londonist Subterranean London...Mapped! By M@ Last edited 105 months ago M@ Subterranean London...Mapped! Cold War bunkers, abandoned Tube stations, buried rivers, deep level shelters...London's concealed features are among its most intriguing. So, in age-old Londonist tradition, we've created a map to try and show what a hollow city this is. And we need your help. We've plotted the more obvious features - the Fleet River, Zone 1 ghost stations, the Kingsway telephone exchange, etc. But we know there's a lot more down there. Please use the comments to draw our attention to omissions.

A few (flexible) rules... (1) We only plot places that the general public cannot normally gain access to. (2) Working Tube and train lines are not shown. (3) Only spaces big enough to comfortably accommodate a person are included - ruling out some sewers and telecommunication ducts. (4) A few other places we know about (e.g. River Tyburn) are not yet shown because we couldn't find accurate guides to their location or route. We'll keep the map updated as people send in new information. Last Updated 14 March 2008 Feel free to use the pictures for the map :) tikichris Have you ever come across any Sleestaks while spelunking London? zarstar The River Tyburn along with some of its fish and possibly the smallest bridge in London can be seen in the basement of Gray's Antique Market (nearest tube: bond street) The Market has two entrances - choose the entrance down the side of the building marked 'the mews'. The antique market is a little gem in itself. Dave I have a copy of 'War Plan UK' by Duncan Campbell sitting around at work.

This 1982 book supposedly details some (largely unauthorised) exploration that the author undertook, investigating miles of unmapped and uncharted (or not publicly charted) underground tunnels, apparently linking key government and defense sites with various telecommunications centres. I'll see what I can dig out from the book. There used to be a website with a handful of interesting pictures from Duncan's explorations, but I can't find it any more... danyey From what I recall, the last part of the Tyburn runs along Storey's Gate/Great Smith Street/Great College Street to the Thames. I think I discovered that on the Parliament website. I'll try to dig it out... You could also include the Westbourne which runs along Westbourne Terrace, through the Serpentine, through Sloane Square (as everyone knows), along Bourne Street to meet the Thames below the Royal Hospital. And don't forget the sewers running along the Embankment. Also, is there something beneath the MI6 building?: Nshimbi The Honor Oak underground reservoir is in the location shown on the map.

It's under the space bordered by Homstall Road, Cheltenham Road, Kelvington Road and Brenchley Gardens on the map. When completed in 1909 it was the largest underground resevoir in the world and is still the largest in Europe. It holds enough water for 1 million people. joeyinthebush There is a bunker here It was built by Churchill as an alternative to the Cabinet War Rooms. Codenamed "Paddock" it was the place where Churchill & his ministers would have holed up in if the Nazis won the battle of Britain. Apparently it was never used much due to the damp. showmethesquaremile Four floors of ironclad safety deposit vaults beneath what is now the City of London Magistrates Court. Was the UK's first deposit vault, and doubly secure because the waters of the Walbrook allegedly surround it. It's on the triangular site at the corner of Walbrook, Bucklersbury Passage and Queen Victoria Street. angus There is a grid of concrete plugs on Ealing Common, each about 2 feet square. I think I heard somewhere that there is an air raid shelter underneath, but I've tried to Google for information and drawn a blank.

The concrete caps were put on about 2 years ago after someone somehow fell through the old metal covering - I walked past as the ambulance and police were trying to extract him. Would love to know more. chriszanf There is the tunnel system that runs from the old Middlesex hospital on Mortimer Road, along Charlotte street up to Howland street then across to Capper Street and Huntley Street before heading up to the old A&E on Grafton Way. I worked in the hospital back in 2001/2002 and used to use them al the time to get between buildings. Not sure what state they would be in now, or if they are even accessible. Julian_Constantine You may be interested in the complex beneath Waterloo station. I went down with station staff as a child in 70's, I was a big fan of the underground, still am come to that. Other than cathedral sized multilevel maintenance areas there are suites of offices and storage facilities that date to the ww2 period. I did not get to see everything, but there were still furnishings including desks with the old Bakelite telephones and blotter pads in place, bunko beds and lockers chairs and tables etc.

I was told that some of the lightbulbs had been continually lit since the memory of the oldest employees. I doubt that access today would be as restricted as it was then but who knows? Mark I can’t find much reference to the Central Buildings Citadel mentioned in the map, underneath the Queen Elizabeth II Centre. Does it have another name? Jessica Foley Is it possible for one person alone to visit any of these places? I find them fascinating. 8 Underground Rivers | Mental Floss 8 Underground Rivers CG94 photos Like us on Facebook Rivers run underground all over the world. These occur naturally in cave systems, and have been known since antiquity, as evidenced in legendary myths of underground waterways such as the River Styx which forms the boundary between Earth and Hades. But this is about subterranean rivers that were once open to the sunlight and were buried by human hands (or heavy machinery). This happens when cities are built overtop, when wetlands are drained, and when existing waterways are consolidated and hidden to give people and their infrastructures more room to grow or move. In some of those places, people don't even realize there's a river running underneath their homes. 1.

The Tank Stream in Sydney Photograph by Wikipedia user Shermozle . When Europeans landed in southern Australia in 1788 , they looked for a place with fresh water to settle into. That place was later to be called Sydney. The river that supplied fresh water was diverted into holding tanks by the convicts who were sent there, and so became known as the Tank Stream . With more and more people using it, the stream became polluted and the swamp that was its source was drained in 1850 . The remaining stream was covered with stone in 1860, and became part of the city's storm drain system and flows, as it always did, into Sydney Cove. 2. Neglinnaya in Moscow Photograph by Wikipedia user A.Savin . At one point in its history, the Neglinnaya River was used as a moat around the Kremlin. The river flowed through the heart of Moscow, but it impeded construction because of frequent floods. Muscovites built dams, ponds, and mills along the river route for industrial use, leading to pollution of the river. The Neglinnaya was diverted into a parallel canal in 1792 to control flooding, and the old river bed was filled in.

The canal then became the carrier of industrial pollution. In 1817, the canal was covered with a vault, creating the Neglinnaya Tunnel, and the river that flowed through it became part of the city's sewer system. Still, it flooded and overflowed into city streets. Several projects since that time have added tunnels to drain excess water from the buried Neglinnaya to control its flow into the Moskva River, shown above. See pictures of those tunnels taken by brave urban explorers. 3. Minetta Brook in New York City Minetta Brook is one of many waterways that have been paved over in New York City . The freshwater streams that allowed so many people to move into the area eventually became polluted and were incorporated into the city's underground sewers and drainage systems. The Minetta once flowed through Manhattan, providing fresh water to Greenwich Village when it was a farming community in the 1700s. In 2010, urban explorer Steve Duncan traced its route under the city, through passageways only a few feet wide in places. He found it has been "rediscovered" during occasional building projects when water flowed through basements.

Tracing the course of the city's storm drains and sewers, Duncan found that the drains were in many places laid out to take advantage of the natural flow of the Minetta. 4. The Bièvre in Paris Photograph by Flickr user CG94 photos . The River Bièvre flows along on the surface from its source near Versailles toward Paris. The diversion of its waters for various projects through history shrunk it to a small stream closer to Paris. Once reaching the city, however, the Bièvre disappears underground, and along its course is diverted into the city sewers. It was covered over due to industrial pollution that began in the Middle Ages. The river once flowed into the Seine within the city, but is now diverted into the main sewer, which is treated and the water released further downriver into the Seine. A restoration project was begun to open the Bièvre in places along its historic route, but a decade later they still don't have the necessary funds. Walking tours are offered of the river's current and historic routes . 5.

The Senne in Brussels The Senne was one of the main waterways in Brussels, Belgium, until the 19th century, but the quirky river was unpredictable and often overflowed its banks. The Senne, like other city rivers, became polluted with industrial and household waste and was gradually replaced by canals for fresh water supplies, which in turn exacerbated the pollution of the river. The downtown area of the river was covered over in a project that ran from 1865 to 1871, and buildings were erected overtop the buried river. The remainder of the river was covered in the 1930s. The underground waterway itself was then diverted, and the former water tunnels were converted to use by the Brussels subway system in 1976. It took until 2007 for the Senne's waters to be treated by modern sewage plants. 6. The River Fleet in London Photograph by Flickr user diamond geezer . The best known buried river is probably the River Fleet in London, England. The Fleet flows from a couple of springs in Hempstead Heath through the city into the Thames. The photograph above shows the source pond that feeds into the Fleet.

Over the centuries, the river became an industrial sewer as the city grew. Engineers began building over the river in sections in the 1730s, gradually enclosing it in bricks and concrete. The spot where the river emerged after the first section enclosed the river became Fleet Street. In the 1860s, the lower sections of the Fleet were covered over and it was formally incorporated into London's sewer system. Photograph by Flickr user sub-urban.com . Geographers have recreated maps of the Fleet so its existence might not be forgotten. Urban explorers venture down into the tunnels, but that's tricky, as the Fleet is still a tidal river and the lower tunnels fill to the top during high tide. See more pictures that trace the location of the buried river. The Fleet is far from the only river buried in London. In addition to the many visible tributaries of the Thames, there are dozens that now flow underground, such as the Tyburn, the Effra, the Walbrook, and the Earl’s Sluice, most of which were incorporated into the sewer system just like the Fleet. 7. ChangPu River in Beijing Photograph by Flickr user whirlpics .

The burial of natural rivers is often considered a shame in modern times. There are drives to restore many of the world's lost rivers, and some of those projects have yielded spectacular results. ChangPu River was a stream that flowed through the Imperial City, the outer part of the Forbidden City in Beijing. In the 1960s it was covered over and the area became a warehouse district. A restoration project was begun in 2002, and the historic river was uncovered and became the focal point of ChangPu River Park , a small but exquisitely maintained showplace in the heart of Beijing. 8. The Cheonggyecheon in Seoul 285 - London's Lost Rivers | Big Think 285 - London's Lost Rivers by Frank Jacobs The easiest pub quiz question in the world: name a river that flows through London. Answer: the Thames. A somewhat more difficult question: name another river that flows through London. A few might know of the river Lee (or Lea) that springs near Leagrave in Bedfordshire and joins the Thames at Leamouth in the London borough of Tower Hamlets. But how about: name a third river that flows through London?

And a fourth, a fifth, a sixth? We’d lose all but the more phenomenal pub quiz contestants here, even though there are in actual fact over a dozen natural water courses flowing through Britain’s capital. Many of them played important role in the development of the city, as the location of mills, the source of drinking water and as open sewers. Most of them have been pushed totally underground, forced into culverts, out of sight and out of mind – even if some of them have left their mark on the city’s topology. This map shows and names some of those lost rivers of London, all tributaries to the Thames. Starting on the rive gauche of the Thames (which in this case means the north bank of the river), those are, west to east: · Stamford Brook: the confluence of three smaller streams arising in West London, Stamford Brook flows into Hammersmith Creek before discharging into the Thames. Its name comes from ‘stoney ford’, and is remembered in Stamford Brook tube station. The stream was covered by 1900 and is now a sewer.

· Parr’s Ditch: also called Black Bull Ditch, this stream arose north of present-day King Street in Hammersmith, flowing under a bridge at Hammersmith Road and crossing what is now the St Paul’s Court estate to flow into the Thames where now Riverside Studios are. · Counter’s Creek: arising in Kensal Green and flowing south through Little Wormwood Scrubs, Olympia and Earls Court to Sands End, where it flows into the Thames, Counter’s Creek can still sometimes be spotted by commuters on the westbound platform of West Brompton tube station, but only after heavy rainfall. Its tidal mouth is known as Chelsea Creek. Chelsea FC’s football grounds is known erroneously as Stamford Bridge because of confusion between Counter’s Creek and Stamford Brook. · Westbourne: flowing from Hampstead through Hyde Park onto Sloane Square and thence into the Thames, the River Westbourne has left its mark on London toponymy, mainly by the other names it has been called through the centuries: Kilburn, Bayswater, Serpentine, Bourne, Westburn Brook, Ranelagh and Ranelagh Sewer. Kilburn and Bayswater nowadays are well-known areas in London.

The Serpentine, formed in 1730 to beautify Hyde Park, was fed with the Westbourne’s waters until 1834, by which time it had become too polluted. Another area owing its name to this stream is Knightsbridge – named after a bridge over the Westbourne. It has been driven underground since the 1850s, when the area it flows through was gobbled up by an expanding London. An original part of the pipes it still runs through can be seen above the platform of Sloane Square tube station. At low tide, its mouth can still be seen some 300 yards west of Chelsea Bridge. · Tyburn: originating in South Hampstead, flowing through St James’s Park and flowing into the Thames near Vauxhall Bridge in Pimlico, the Tyburn once branched to form the island of Thorney, the site of Westminster Abbey. ·Fleet: two springs on Hampstead Heath, directed into two 18th century reservoirs (Highgate and Hampstead Ponds) thereafter combine to form London’s largest underground river.

The upper reaches were known as the hollow stream (‘Holborn’ in Anglo-Saxon, hence the name of that London area), its lower reaches as the Fleet (from Anglo-Saxon for ‘estuary’). The Fleet flows under King’s Cross, which was originally known as Battle Bridge, after a place where Queen Boudicca is reputed to have fought the Romans. It ends in the Thames under Blackfriars Bridge. The river gave its name to Fleet Street, which in turn became a collective term for the British press, as most newspapers had their offices there. It almost gave its name to a tube line, but since its opening coincided with the Queen’s silver jubilee, the Fleet Line was named the Jubilee Line. On a quiet moment in front of the Coach and Horses pub in Ray Street, Farringdon, you can still hear the Fleet’s flow through the grating. Another slightly more dangerous location for Fleet-spotting is the grid in the center of Charterhouse Street where it joins Farringdon Road.

· Walbrook: starting in Finsbury, flowing straight through the middle of the most ancient part of the city and into the Thames at Cannon Street Railway Bridge, this river’s name might derive from the fact that it flowed through or under the wall of Londinium, the Roman settlement on the site of present-day London. Legend has it that when London fell to the Saxons, these forced the original Celtic inhabitants to live on the east side of the river, while they lived on the west side of it – resulting in the still noticeable difference between London’s affluent West End and a more working-class East End. · Black Ditch: possibly rising near Spitalfields, this river ran to Mile End, curving into Poplar to end in the Thames at Limehouse Dock. It may have been known by other names but by the late 18th century, it was called the Black Ditch. Streams joining the Thames on its south bank are, west to east: · Beverley Brook: rising at Cuddington Recreation Park in Worcester Park, Beverley Brook flows through Wimbledon Common, Richmond Park and Barnes and joins the Thames at Barn Elms, near Putney Bridge.

Its name derives from the presence of the European beaver, extinct in Britain since the 16th century. · Wandle: the Wandle springs from two sources: one of the Waddon Ponds in Croydon and another at Carshalton Ponds. It flows through Sutton, Lambeth, Merton and finally Wandsworth, where it joins the Thames. Both Wandsworth and the Wandle get their names from Wendle, a Saxon who settled in the area. Exceptionally among London’s ‘lost’ rivers, the Wandle is not subterranean for most of its length. Springing at Thornton Heath as the Norbury Brook, the river Graveney joins the Wandle near Summerstown. · Falcon: the Falconbrook, or Falcon, springs on Tooting Bec Common, flows under Balham and enters the Thames at Battersea. It burst out of the pavement of Falcon Road (named after the stream) in Clapham Junction in July 2007 during floods that affected large parts of England.

· Effra: derived from the Celtic word for torrent (compare, in Welsh, ‘ffrydlif’), the Effra rises from multiple sources, among others in Crystal Palace and near Westow Hill, flowing under Half Moon Lane in North Dulwich, towards Herne Hill train station, from there towards Brixton’s Coldharbour Lane, Brixton Road, on to Kennington and then ending in the Thames, near Vauxhall Bridge. In 1992, an arts project sparked a campaign to unearth the Effra. · Neckinger: rising in Southwark, the Neckinger joins the Thames via St Saviour’s Dock, where pirates were hanged in the 17th century. The river’s name may derive from the term ‘devil’s neckcloth’ (i.e. the noose). In the 19th century, the mouth of the Neckinger was known as Jacob’s Island, a place of great poverty and squalor, described as the very capital of cholera and the Venice of drains. Charles Dickens lets one of his best-known characters, Bill Sykes (from Oliver Twist) meet a violent death in the mud of the Dock.

· Peck: the Peck, springing in East Dulwich and running through Peckam, was enclosed in 1823. It can still be seen on the west side of Peckham Rye Park. · Ravensbourne: the River Ravensbourne rises at Caesar’s Well in Keston, flows through Bromley, Lewisham and Greenwich and is joined by several tributaries, among which the beautifully named River Quaggy (also known as Kyd Brook). It ends in the Thames in Greenwich Reach (also known as Deptford Creek), west of Greenwich proper. In 1580, Queen Elizabeth I knighted Francis Drake on board the Golden Hind in Deptford Creek after his circumnavigation of the globe. Many thanks to Alex Burke who sent in this map which can be found here on the Open Guide to London . London underground photos: Miles of ornate brickwork tunnels show the hidden Fleet River | Daily Mail Online comments It is steeped in history with its banks rumoured to be where Queen Boudicca’s army fought battles against the Romans. Some believed it had healing powers and even today there are stories of wild pigs living on its hidden shores.

But mention the River Fleet to most Londoners and you’d probably get a blank expression. Now this key feature of London’s hidden past has been brought to life in a series of stunning photographs which show how the historic waters still flow through the modern city. Snaking under the streets of Camden, Holborn and King’s Cross, the River Fleet once openly flowed for four miles from Hampstead Ponds to the more famous Thames. Snaking under the streets of Camden, Holborn and King's Cross, the River Fleet once openly flowed for four miles from Hampstead Ponds to the more famous Thames. Seen here, a stunning brick arch covers a section of the river which was covered due to the stench it gave off after it was polluted by industry A ghostly figure leans against a huge brick tunnel which was built to move sewage waters from the River Fleet into the Thames. The waste system was designed in the 1850s by the renowned civil engineer Joseph Bazalgette. Pollution of the river had steadily risen from as early as the 12th century as London became more industrialised Most of the tunnels are totally closed off to the public - but some lucky people have been able to get a glimpse of them.

Locals say you can hear the waters of the Fleet running through grating in Clerkenwell. On some days the waters can still be seen discharging into the Thames underneath Blackfriars Bridge Long since covered and forgotten after generations of development the river was vital for Londoners as a place to do business. In the time of the Romans the Fleet was a major river which mills, butchers, tanners, brewers and ordinary people would rely on for water supply. Wells were built to extract waters which people believed had healing qualities, which gave rise to the name Clerkenwell. It even gave its name to the street that would become the home of the British newspaper industry - Fleet Street. The river has two sources - one in Hampstead and one in Highgate - which meet close to King's Cross. After meandering under the city for four miles it flows into the River Thames at Blackfriars Bridge. Road names which stand to this day - such as Newcastle Lane, Newcastle Close and Old Seacoal Lane - hark back to the barges which brought down coal from the north of England Enlarge An artist's impression (1st-3rd century) of a ship carrying ragstone at the entrance to the Fleet.

The remains of such a boat were found in the Thames at Blackfriars. The stone it was carrying may have been intended for the building of the city wall, parts of which are still visible today But as the years passed and London developed into an industrial empire the clean waters soon disappeared, being replaced with a rancid, stinking flow. Polluted with dead dogs as well as remains from daily life, butchery and sewage, the once glorious Fleet turned into a sorry state. In 1598 John Stow, author of The Survey of London, wrote that the Fleet was 'impassable for boats, by reason of the many encroachments thereon made, by the throwing of offal and other garbage by butchers, saucemen and others, and by reason of the many houses of office standing upon it. And in 1728 Alexander Pope famously wrote: ‘To where Fleet-ditch with disemboguing streams / Rolls the large tribute of dead dogs to Thames/The king of dykes! than whom no sluice of mud/with deeper sable blots the silver flood.’ The stench and state of the river made it increasingly unpopular.

After the the Great Fire of London in 1666 Sir Christopher Wren put forward plans to widen it so that it could act as future fire break and stop flames spreading. But his dream was ignored and the river was converted into a canal. This, however proved even more unpopular and it remained largely unused. Then it was gradually covered over and eventually became incorporated in the Victorian sewer system designed by Joseph Bazalgette. First the lower section was cut off to be used solely for a sewage pipe and eventually this applied to the upper sections too. Locals say you can hear the waters of the Fleet running through grating in Clerkenwell. On some days the waters can still be seen discharging into the Thames underneath Blackfriars Bridge. Images courtesy of The beautifully constructed tunnels are in some places up to 40 feet below ground level. Since it is a tidal river, some of the chambers can fill with water to the roof within half an hour After the the Great Fire of London in 1666, Sir Christopher Wren put forward plans to widen it so that it could act as future fire break and stop flames spreading.

But his dream was ignored and the river was converted into a canal Wells were built to extract waters which people believed had healing qualities, which gave rise to the name Clerkenwell These amazing pictures show how the river might have once looked when it was part of everyday London life. Even today there are stories of wild pigs living on its hidden shores Parts of the tunnels have been well preserved and maintained as the tidal river waters don't impact on their lifespan Some parts are not as ornate but equally functional and finally lead the ancient waters into the River Thames. During the reign of Edward I (1239-1307), pirates sailed up the Fleet to launch an attack, which ended in failure In the time of the Romans, the Fleet was a major river which mills, butchers, tanners, brewers and ordinary people would rely on for water supply One of the tributaries of the Fleet was called the Holburna ('hollow stream') by the Anglo-Saxons, from which we get the name Holborn At the high end of the Fleet, where the water was pure, several wells and spas sprang up.

The most popular were Clerk's Well, Bagnigge Well, and St Bride's Well The headlamp on this lone figure illuminates the route through which the river, now sewer, runs. What is remarkable is the relatively good state of the brickwork given the constant flow it has had to contend with A fleeting history of the Fleet Mapping London’s Underground Rivers | Mapping London Mapping London’s Underground Rivers Posted by James on 21 August 2011 in Tube | 3 comments Aside from the odd rumble of a tube train, or perhaps a burst pipe in winter, Londoners often overlook the goings on beneath their feet. For this reason many are unaware that the city is built on a network of rivers and streams- each one progressively covered over as the city developed. These underground waterways have not disappeared entirely from view with the odd street name (such as Fleet Street ) and occasional opening in the banks of the Thames acting as reminders of their presence. Many people enjoy walking along the routes that these rivers flow and others have made efforts to map them. One of the most novel maps has been produced (I think) by Richard Fairhurst for Heritage Magazine and shows a few of the subterranean rivers alongside some other notable underground features in London.

It is, of course, based on Beck’s Tube map . The most impressive map of London’s lost rivers I have seen is the animation below produced by Sandra Crisp . Of all the rivers in the animation above it is the River Fleet that seems to inspire the most people and Simon Dovar is no exception. He created one of my favourite entries to the Londonist Hand Drawn Maps competition which charts the route of the fleet across London by erasing the pencil-drawn road network. London Underground: 150 fascinating Tube facts - Telegraph Telegraph 150 London Underground facts (including the birth of Jerry Springer in East Finchley station) It's closed today, but it's still interesting Credit: John Stillwell Jolyon Attwooll , Travel writer 9 January 2017 • 11:00am You can't ride it today, thanks to industrial action. But you can learn a few things about the Tube instead. 1. There is only one Tube station which does not have any letters of the word 'mackerel' in it: St John's Wood. 2. The average speed on the Underground is 20.5 miles per hour including station stops. 3.

The busiest Tube station is Waterloo, which was used by around 95 million passengers in 2015. In 2014 Oxford Circus took top spot, in 2009 it was Victoria, and in 2005 it was King's Cross, 4. On the Metropolitan line, trains can reach over 60mph. The Night Tube service started on August 19, 2016 Credit: AFP or licensors/DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS 5. The shortest distance between two adjacent stations on the underground network is only 260 metres. The tube journey between Leicester Square and Covent Garden on the Piccadilly Line takes only about 20 seconds, but costs £4.90 (cash fare). Yet it still remains one of the most popular journeys with tourists. 6. Many tube stations were used as air-raid shelters during the Second World War, but the Central Line was even converted into a fighter aircraft factory that stretched for over two miles, with its own railway system. Its existence remained an official secret until the 1980s. 7.

Angel has the Underground's longest escalator at 60m/197ft, with a vertical rise of 27.5m. 8. The shortest escalator is Stratford, with a vertical rise of 4.1m. 9. Only 45 per cent of the Underground is actually in tunnels. 10. The longest distance between stations is on the Metropolitan line from Chesham to Chalfont & Latimer: a total of only 3.89 miles. The history of the Tube in pictures 11. The longest continuous tunnel is on the Northern line and runs from East Finchley to Morden (via Bank), a total of 17.3 miles. 12. Aldgate Station, on the Circle and Metropolitan Lines, is built on a massive plague pit, where more than 1,000 bodies are buried. 13. The longest journey without change is on the Central line from West Ruislip to Epping, and is a total of 34.1 miles. 14. The deepest station is Hampstead on the Northern line, which runs down to 58.5 metres. 15.

In Central London the deepest station below street level is also the Northern line. It is the DLR concourse at Bank, which is 41.4 metres below. Only 45 per cent of the Underground is actually in tunnels 16. The TARDIS, (Dr Who’s transport) can be found outside Earl’s Court station. Or at least an old police call box can. 17. The London Underground manages about 10 per cent of all green spaces in London. 18. Wildlife observed on the Tube network includes woodpeckers, deer, sparrowhawk, bats, grass snakes, great crested newts, slow worms. 19. Over 47 million litres water are pumped from the Tube each day, enough to fill a standard leisure centre swimming pool (25 metres x 10 metres) every quarter of an hour. 20. The London Underground trains were originally steam powered. 21. The station with the most platforms is Baker Street with 10 (Moorgate also has 10 platforms but only six are used by Tube trains - others are used by overground trains). 22.The District Line has the most stations: 60.

There are 270 stations on the network Credit: Dominic Lipinski 23. The Waterloo and City Line has the fewest stations (no intermediate stations) 24. The Underground name first appeared on stations in 1908. 25. London Underground has been known as the Tube since 1890 due to the shape of the tunnels. 26. The first deep-level electric railway line also opened in 1890. 27. The Tube's logo is known as “the roundel” (a red circle crossed by a horizontal blue bar) 28. The station with the most escalators is Waterloo with 23. 29. The total number of passengers carried during 2013/14 was 1.265 billion – making it the world's 11th busiest metro. 30. The highest station above sea level is Amersham, at 147 metres. What we love about the London Underground 31. Tube trains travelled 76.4 million kilometres last year. 32. The Northern line has the highest maximum number of trains required for scheduled peak period service: 91.

The Tube's logo is known as “the roundel” Credit: Reuters Photographer 33. The Waterloo & City line has the fewest scheduled for peak period service at just five. 34. The total length of the London Underground network is 250 miles. 35. In 1926, suicide pits were installed beneath tracks due to a rise in the numbers of passengers throwing themselves in front of trains. 36. The eastern extension of the Jubilee line is the only Underground line to feature glass screens to deter "jumpers". 37. The earliest trains run from Osterley to Heathrow on the Piccadilly line, starting at 4.45am. 38. The greatest elevation above the ground level is on the Northern line at Dollis Brook viaduct over Dollis road, Mill Hill: it rises a total of 18 metres (60ft). 39. One of the early names proposed for the Victoria Line was the Viking line. 40. In 1924, the first baby was born on the Underground, on a train at Elephant & Castle on the Bakerloo line. The Tube's prettiest stations 41.

The American talk show host Jerry Springer was born at East Finchley during the Second World War: his mother had taken shelter in the station from an air raid. 42. Builders working on the Bakerloo Line are reported to have suffered from the bends while tunnelling under the Thames. 43. The inaugural journey of the first Central line train in 1900 had the Prince of Wales and Mark Twain on board. The total length of the London Underground network is 250 miles Credit: PA 44. The tunnels beneath the City curve significantly because they follow its medieval street plan. 45. The Central line introduced the first flat fare when it opened at the turn of the 20th century. The tuppence fare lasted until the end of June 1907 when a threepenny fare was introduced for longer journeys. 46. Charles Pearson, MP and Solicitor to the City of London, is credited with successfully campaigning for the introduction of the Underground. He died in 1862 shortly before the first train ran. 47. The first escalator on the Underground was installed at Earl's Court in 1911. 48.

The first crash on the Tube occurred in 1938 when two trains collided between Waterloo and Charing Cross, injuring 12 passengers. 49. Harry Beck produced the well known Tube map diagram while working as an engineering draughtsman at the London Underground Signals Office. He was reportedly paid 10 guineas (£10.50) for his efforts. 50. Harry Beck’s map was considered too big a departure from the norm, but the public liked it and it became official in 1933. 51. Busking has been licensed on the Tube since 2003. 52. Sting and Paul McCartney are both rumoured to have busked on the Underground in disguise. 53. The phrase "Mind the gap" dates back to 1968. The recording that is broadcast on stations was first done by Peter Lodge, who had a recording company in Bayswater. A photo posted by bologna|2001|galvani (@_f_r_e_0_1_) on Aug 18, 2016 at 4:53am PDT 54.

The Peter Lodge recording of “Mind the Gap” is still in use, but some lines use recordings by a Manchester voice artist Emma Clarke. On the Piccadilly line the recording is notable for being the voice of Tim Bentinck, who plays David Archer in The Archers. 55. The Jubilee Line was the only Underground Line to connect with all the others until the East London line ceased to be part of the Underground in 2007 (now the Central Line does too). 56. Approximately 50 passengers a year kill themselves on the Underground. 57. Fewer than 10 per cent of Tube stations lie south of the Thames. 58. The total number of lifts on the Underground, including four stair lifts, is 167. Ye Olde London Underground Credit: Getty 59. Smoking was banned on the Underground as a result of the King's Cross fire in November 1987 which killed 31 people. A discarded match was thought to be the cause of that inferno. 60. An estimated half a million mice live in the Underground system. London's lost Tube stations: in pictures 61.

1961 marked the end of steam and electric haulage of passenger trains on the London Underground. 62. One of the levels in Tomb Raider 3 is set in the disused Aldwych tube station, featuring scenes of Lara Croft killing rats. 63. In the film Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the Hogwarts headmaster has a scar that resembles a map of the London Underground on his knee. 64.There are only two tube station names that contain all five vowels: Mansion House, and South Ealing. 65. Edward Johnston designed the font for the London Underground in 1916. The font he came up with is still in use today. 66. Amersham is also the most westerly tube station, as well as the highest (see above). 67. A macabre statistic is that the most popular tube suicide time is around 11am. 68. In January 2005, in an attempt to alleviate a problem with loitering young people, the London Underground announced it would play classical music at problem stations. Which buildings survived the Great Fire of London? 69.

The Underground has the oldest section of underground railway in the world, which opened in 1863. 70. The first section of the Underground ran between Paddington (Bishop's Road) and Farringdon Street. The same section now forms part of the Circle, Hammersmith & City, and Metropolitan lines. London Underground: 10 of the funniest videos 71.The Underground was first used for air raid shelters in September 1940. 72. During the Second World War, part of the Piccadilly line (Holborn - Aldwych branch), was closed and British Museum treasures were stored in the empty spaces. 73. The London Passenger Transport Board was nationalised and became the London Transport Executive in 1948. 74. The first Tube tunnel was opened in 1880, running from the Tower of London to Bermondsey. 75. The Central Line used to be nicknamed as the 'Twopenny Tube' for its flat fare. 76. Dot matrix train destination indicators were introduced onto London Underground platforms in 1983. 77.

The single worst accident in terms of fatalities on the Underground occurred on February 28, 1975 at Moorgate, when 42 people died. 78. The Piccadilly line extended to serve Heathrow Terminal 4 in 1986. 79. Penalty fares were only introduced in 1994. 80. The Tube carried one billion passengers in a year for the first time in 2007. London Underground quiz 81.The last manually operated doors on Tube trains (replaced by air-operated doors) were phased out in 1929. 82.The Jubilee Line was named to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee in 1977 – but the line did not open until 1979. A photo posted by Merve (@lknmerve) on Aug 1, 2016 at 12:25pm PDT 83. A census carried out on September 27, 1940, found that 177,500 Londoners were sleeping in Tube stations. 84.

During the war, special supply trains ran, providing seven tonnes of food and 2,400 gallons of tea and cocoa every night to people staying in the Tube. 85. Covent Garden is believed to be haunted by the ghost of William Terris who met an untimely death near the station in 1897. 86. Another station that is believed to be haunted is Farringdon. The so-called Screaming Spectre is believed to have been a milliner. 87. The Seven Sisters Underground station is believed to have been named after a line of elm trees which stood nearby until the 1830s. 88. The fictitious station of Walford East, which features in the long-running soap opera Eastenders, is supposed to be on the District Line. 89. Every week, Underground escalators travel the equivalent distance of going twice around the world. 90. According to TFL, London Underground trains travel a total of 1,735 times around the world (or 90 trips to the moon and back) each year. 91.

A spiral escalator was installed in 1907 at Holloway Road station, but linear escalators were favoured for the rest of the network. A small section of the spiral escalator is in the Acton depot. 92. A small section of the old London Wall survives in the trackside walls of Tower Hill station at platform level. One of the largest pieces of the wall also stands just outside this station. 93. Finsbury Park station has murals that show a pair of duelling pistols, harking back to a time when men would visit the park after hours to defend their honour. The Jubilee line receives the most complaints Credit: © Pixel Youth movement / Alamy Stock Photo/Pixel Youth movement / Alamy Stock Photo 94. In 2012, the most complained about line was the Jubilee. 95. The London Underground is thought to be the third largest metro system in the world, in terms of miles, after the Beijing Subway and the Shanghai Metro. 96. The London Underground is the third busiest metro system in Europe, after Moscow and Paris. 97. The coffin of Dr.

Thomas Barnardo was carried in funeral cortege on an underground train in 1905, one of only two occasions this is known to have happened. 98. The Underground helped over 200,000 children escape to the countryside during the Second World War. 99. During the war, some stations (now mostly disused) were converted into government offices: a station called Down Street was used for meetings of the Railway Executive Committee, as well as for the War Cabinet before the Cabinet War Rooms were built. 100. Brompton Road (now disused) on the Piccadilly, Line was apparently used as a control room for anti-aircraft guns. 101. Only five London Underground stations lie outside the M25 motorway The Night Tube is finally here Credit: AFP or licensors/DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS 102. The Underground runs 24 hours a day at New Year, during special events (such as for the opening and closing ceremonies of the London Olympics), and on selected lines at the weekend. 103.

According to a 2002 study air quality on the Underground was 73 times worse than at street level, with 20 minutes on the Northern Line having "the same effect as smoking a cigarette". 104. The former poet laureate John Betjeman created 'Metroland' series, a homage to the people and places served by the Metropolitan line in 1973. Ride the Emirates Air Line cable car with this 360° video 105. The Oyster card was introduced in 2003. 106. The worst civilian death toll on the Underground occurred at Bethnal Green Tube tragedy in 1943, when 173 people died. It is the largest loss of life in a single incident on the London Underground network. 107. The largest number of people killed by a single wartime bomb was 68 at Balham Station. 108. The 100th anniversary of the roundel (the Tube Logo) was celebrated in 2008 by TfL commissioning 100 artists to produce works that celebrate the design. 109.

The largest Tube car park is at Epping and has 599 parking spots. 110. The Central Line has the most tube stations with no surface building (Bank, Bethnal Green, Chancery Lane, Gants Hill, Notting Hill Gate) 111. Of the stations that have stairs, Hampstead Station has the most steps (320 in total). 112. There are 14 journeys between stations that take less than a minute on average. 113. King's Cross St Pancras tube station is served by more Underground lines than any other station on the network. 114. Seven London Boroughs are not served by the underground system, six of them being situated south of the River Thames. 115. The total number of carriages in London Underground's fleet, as of January 2013, was 4,134. 116. The total number of stations served on the network is 270. 117. London Underground transferred from the control of the Government to Transport for London (TfL) on July 15, 2003. 118.

Scenes from the film Sliding Doors were shot at Waterloo station on the Waterloo & City Line and at Fulham Broadway tube station on the District Line. 119. Filming on location in the Underground costs £500 per hour (plus VAT) unless you have a crew of less than five. 120. You can now no longer go around the Circle Line in a full circle. From 2009, the Circle Line terminated at Edgware Road. 121. Greenford on the Central Line was the last Tube station to use wooden escalators. They were replaced in 2014. 122. Arsenal (originally Gillespie Road) on Piccadilly line is the only station named after a football team. 123. There are three tube stations on the Monopoly board: Liverpool Street Station, King’s Cross and Marylebone. Watch | How to land at Britain's trickiest airport 03:57 124. The number of stations that only use escalators is 12 125. Nineteen stations just use lifts. 126.

The River Westbourne was funnelled above a platform on Sloane Square in a large iron pipe suspended from girders. It remains in place today. 127. The first tube station to be demolished was Westbourne Park on the Metropolitan Line. It was re-sited in 1871. 128. There is a mosquito named after the Tube – the London Underground mosquito, which was found in the London Underground. It was notable for its assault of Londoners sleeping in the Underground during the Blitz. 129.The London Underground Film Office handles over 200 requests a month. 130. In Alfred Hitchcock’s first feature film The Lodger (1926) featured the director making a cameo on the Tube. 131. The record for visiting all the stations on the London Underground network – known as the Tube Challenge – is currently held by Ronan McDonald and Clive Burgess of the United Kingdom, who completed the challenge in 16 hours, 14 minutes and 10 seconds on February 19, 2015 132.

The Tube Challenge record did not appear in the Guinness book of records until its eighth edition in 1960, when it stood at 18 hours, 35 minutes. 133. An interactive novel has been published, set on the London Underground. You can read it here . 134. In cockney rhyming slang, the London Underground is known as the Oxo (Cube/Tube). 135. Around 30,000 passengers went on The Metropolitan Line on its first day of public business – January 10, 1863. 136. There were claims the first baby born on the Underground was called Thelma Ursula Beatrice Eleanor (so that her initials would have read TUBE) but this story later proved false – her actual name was Marie Cordery. London brunch 137. On August 3 2012, during the Olympic Games, the London Underground had its most hectic day ever, carrying 4.4 million passengers – but that record was beaten on Friday December 4 2015, when 4.82 million people used it. 138.

St James is the only Underground Station to have Grade-I protected status. It includes 55 Broadway, the administrative headquarters of London’s Underground since the 1930s. 139. The most recent Tube birth – a boy – was in 2009. 140. The most common location for filming is Aldwych, a disused station. 141. As Princess Elizabeth, the Queen travelled on the Underground for the first time in May 1939, when she was 13 years old, with her governess Marion Crawford and Princess Margaret. Apr 30, 2016 at 3:30pm PDT 142. Poems on the Underground was launched in 1986, the idea of American writer Judith Chernaik. 143. A series of animal shapes have also been highlighted in the London Underground map, first discovered by Paul Middlewick in 1988. They're created using the tube lines, stations and junctions of the London Underground map. 144. A fragrance known as Madeleine was trialled at St.

James Park, Euston, and Piccadilly stations in 2001, intended to make the Tube more pleasant. It was stopped within days after complaints from people saying they felt ill. 145. There were eight deep-level shelters built under the London Underground in the Second World War. One of them in Stockwell is decorated as a war memorial. 146. After the war, the deep level shelter at Clapham South housed immigrants from the West Indies. 147. A 2011 study suggested 30 per cent of passengers take longer routes due to the out-of-scale distances on the Tube map. 148. The first ever air-conditioned, walk-through Underground train ran on the Metropolitan line in 2010. 149. The average distance travelled by each Tube train annually stands at around 114,500 miles. 150. Alcohol was banned on the Tube – and all London Transport – from June 2008. Editor's note: Note that one or two facts have changed since this article was first published in 2014 and this has been updated to reflect those changes. The Best Hotels In London

Question: What is the name of London's largest underground river?
Answer: Fleet